Consultant Proposes Ways To Improve Wilson

WINDSOR — A consulting firm's plan to re-energize the Wilson area includes opening a campsite on state-owned land, clustering more retail shops and building more single-family homes.

The consultants from Amadon & Associates of Hartford will unveil their plan at a meeting of the town council's special projects committee on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at town hall.

On Tuesday, Dean Amadon, the firm's president, said that tourism, economic development and stabilizing the residential market are key tenets.

``The primary emphasis is to maintain a strong residential character, because that's what the majority of the neighborhood is composed of,'' Amadon said.

The campsite would be on 65 acres along the Connecticut River near the boat launch on East Barber Street. Amadon said preliminary talks have been held with the state, including the Department of Environmental Protection, about use of the land as a campsite.

``There's the potential of importing $1.5 million into the area through tourism,'' Amadon said. ``And the beauty of it is, it doesn't require a lot of town services [to maintain.]''

The biggest problem economically is that ``more dollars are being spent outside of Windsor than in Windsor,'' Amadon said.

Clustering more businesses at the intersections on the Windsor Avenue strip will make it more vibrant, he said.

Amadon said he will propose building single-family houses in some areas along Windsor Avenue that are vacant. The homes would be of the ``market-rate'' variety, not affordable housing, he said.

Wilson is a 1-square-mile working- class, integrated neighborhood in the southern section of town, bordering Hartford.

Merchants and residents have complained that business has been sluggish. The recent improvements to I-91 and I-291 have exacerbated the problem by diverting traffic, they said.

Amadon & Associates was paid $35,000 for the study. The firm started its work this spring by surveying residents and merchants.